JEFF TANNER FOR PREZ! :) (uhhh- please curb the Bush comments or we'll get ourselves in trouble!!) hehehehhe!!! :B Her --On Monday, February 28, 2005 4:23 PM -0500 Jeff Tanner <jtanner@mozart.sc.edu> wrote: > This is an interesting thread with some great responses. > > Yes, Julliard can get weekly (I thought it was daily according to an > article I have) tunings on teaching instruments because they have 5 full > time technicians and 4 part timers for, what is it, 247 pianos? > > Some of your other responses about unisons barely moving in a teaching > studio with only 3 tunings a year. Well, those guys just don't know what > south of the Fall Line weather patterns combined with modern (low budget) > HVAC systems with zero humidity control will do to piano tunings during > the normal school year, do they Wim? I actually think the old steam heat > for winter, and open windows for air conditioning was a more stable > system. > > I got my daily recital tuning time moved to afternoons after my first > year here because of the 10 to 12 percent humidity changes that were > happening between 9 am and recital time making the tunings unstable. My > predecessor had had trouble with the vaccuming staff in the room. I > fixed that with the time change. And my concert tunings are MUCH more > stable now. No, I don't tune the recital pianos every day, but I do have > time in the hall every day in case I need it. It is much more difficult > to schedule a tuning time AFTER the recital schedule has changed than it > is to be the daily stronghold they have to schedule around. But, that > said, the tuning will move around from day to day. The one thing I DO > try to give our students and faculty here is the best professional > performance situation I can give them. > > So, what do I do? Well, I try to encourage my piano faculty to keep > their pianos watered. Some pianos are on their third tunings this > semester, WITH Dampp-Chaser systems. Others haven't been tuned since > last semester (hey, I'm not saying they're in tune - I'm saying the profs > ain't fussing. One professor came back after the Christmas break and > said, "what did you do to my pianos? they're sounding great after the > break!" I smiled broadly and just thought to myself, "Nothing. That's > just how bad your ears are.") > > Otherwise, it depends. I set out to keep everything here on a timely > schedule. But after 3 years of these roller coaster fall/winters, I > pretty much gave in to realize that trying to keep everything on a strict > schedule make no sense because Mother Nature chooses her own schedule. > You can create so much work by working hard. You can literally work > yourself to death and in a week's time the pianos can STILL sound like > you don't even exist. So, I'm going by the "squeaky wheel" method for > now. > > Oh, and yeah, I was an aural tuner when I came here. An ARTISTE! > > No longer. Mother nature will put an ARTISTE who's trying to keep pianos > in tune at this school in that Charter place over on the island just > outside Charleston. I bought an SAT III to preserve my sanity. > > As long as you're checking intervals behind you as you go and tuning > unisons aurally, you're still listening to the piano, and likely getting > a more stable tuning at the same time. It's amazing how your stability > increases when you can watch for those little lights to start drifting > ever so slightly with your test blows. The machine isn't a crutch unless > you allow it to become one. I've found it to be quite the opposite, and > an indispensable teaching aid. > > Your professors should understand that different buildings have different > climate control capability, and not to mention, different climates will > have varying levels of change. If they don't understand this, make them > all a copy of Walter Deptula's article from the January 2000 Journal on > "Deep Cycling of Humidity". That article alone can answer LOTS of > questions and support your position. Add in a copy of that Steinway > article on climate control, get you a couple of those Dampp-Chaser > digital hygro units and record and reset the high/low every week inside a > couple of their pianos and you should have some pretty convincing > support. Everything you give them, give a copy to your supervising > administrator. > > Your professor who claimed that tunings that lasted 8 weeks at another > institution might not have been realizing that she just didn't notice the > piano drifting ever so slowly. I can guarantee her that tunings in THIS > building won't last 8 weeks. > > I tune for a church in another town. Regardless of what I've tried to > tell them, they wait for the organist to tell them the piano is out of > tune. After all, he is on the music faculty at (another college), and > he has "perfect pitch". > > Yep. Always requires a significant pitch correction. > > Jeff > > > On Saturday, February 26, 2005, at 05:07 PM, Wimblees@aol.com wrote: > > There is minor argument between the piano faculty and myself as to how > often their pianos should be tuned. They want to know why their pianos > need tuning once a week. (and they do need it, especially during the > winter). One of the professors claims that at another university she > worked at, her piano lasted 8 weeks. > How often are you guys tuning the piano faculty pianos, presuming they > get played heavily about 30 hours a week? > Wim > Willem Blees, RPT > Piano Technician > School of Music > University of Alabama
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC